Giving Thanks

Tags

connections, give thanks, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, united

It is raining outside. I saw it when I first woke up and stumbled downstairs about twenty minutes ago to find coffee made for me as usual. Just now the rain started in earnest, easily heard on the roof and the pavement. So how shall I respond? I could say: “What a dismal day! I wish I could go back to bed! Why couldn’t we have just a little sunshine on Thanksgiving Day!” But things are moving along already in the kitchen…and (truth be told) I would love to go out and walk in the rain!

We have come through what has likely been the most tragic period of life in our world. It isn’t over yet but soon there will be a vaccine – or two or three! – that we hope will eradicate the virus that has been decimating the world population. Yesterday we heard a voice of hope from our next President urging us to come together as who we are: “the United States of America.” Within the past five minutes the phone in our kitchen rang bringing a sung wish from across the country in Albuquerque for our amazing Liz whose birthday we celebrate today and a picture appeared from my dear friend and colleague whose first and only grandson is smiling out at me from the internet. He will have a new brother or sister by summer!

There will be many such connections today, even though we are still needful of caution in dealing with the virus that has ravaged the world. I will pray throughout the day in thanksgiving especially for those who care for the sick, for those who are bringing us a vaccine, for people whose major activity today will be serving free meals at innumerable venues throughout the country, for the Sisters of St. Joseph who have been my life companions for 54 years and are beginning a new chapter in our life together as of last Saturday, for my family members whose voices I expect to hear on the telephone (and maybe see on a zoom call…) and for so much more. May we all give thanks for the great and the small blessings of our lives and come to know in an ever-deeper way the love that undergirds our lives.

Let us give thanks for all good gifts today. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Day After

Tags

connections, gathering, harmony, Peace, relationships, similarities, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Over the past few days there has been much attention paid to the weather. Huge storms all across the United States have taken first place on the nightly news and are second only to the numbers of people who are traveling during this “Thanksgiving weekend.” It occurred to me to stop and think about the impact of this holiday which is not, in itself, religious or of directly patriotic origin. It has grown to include commemoration in houses of worship as a natural way of gathering to give thanks and parades usually include groups of military service people and/or their equipment. At its heart, however, Thanksgiving is about connections – millions of people traveling across the country or down the street to share a meal. It’s even fine to stay in one’s home as long as there are invitees and a turkey or some other special meal that says, “Thank you for our lives together.”

Millions of people take risks to travel to be with loved ones. (Note the pile-ups on snow-packed highways during the past few days.) Organizations offer free meals to those who have no one to share with or for those who live in a state of poverty too restrictive for such a feast. New relationships begin or are solidified over cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie…and (usually) turkey or tofurkey, of course. It’s about eating together, being nourished in ways that can rekindle family ties, reconcile friendships or spark attention to similarities of beliefs or interests. Many things can happen at Thanksgiving.

Best of all, we remember and experience gratitude, the foundational reason for the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims and their neighbors after their first harvest in the New World in October of 1621. It lasted for three days and was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims, according to attendee, Edward Winslow. May the good feelings of yesterday remain and relationships endure so that the heart of our country may be ever more open and restored to peace and harmony.